exposing the dark side of adoption
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Plum man sentenced on porn charges

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The Associated Press

A Plum man pleaded guilty to charges that he took explicit photos of his former adopted daughter in a Walt Disney World hotel.

Matthew Mancuso, 49, entered his plea Monday in Orlando. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison on two counts of attempted sexual battery on a child under 12.

Mancuso already was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the same case in Pennsylvania, and 15 years on federal charges.

Florida prosecutors said they pursued charges there because the Pennsylvania case is on appeal and the other sentences might not stick.

The photographs surfaced in 2005 when Canadian police asked the public for tips on the identity of a girl appearing in hundreds of explicit photos. Investigators erased her image but posted the backgrounds -- including views of a fountain, elevator and hot tub. They received tips that some were taken at a Disney World hotel room.

"I would like to make a public apology to everything that's happened up to this point," Mancuso said at Monday's hearing.

Mancuso adopted the girl from a Russian orphanage in 1998, allegedly abusing her until authorities took her away in 2003.

The girl, now 15, attended the hearing. Her mother lamented a lost childhood, but she called herself a survivor.

"I have God," the girl said. "I am me, not because of what people did to me, but because of what I did."

2007 Oct 24